U.S. patent application number 14/935857 was filed with the patent office on 2016-03-10 for method, apparatus, and computer program product for scheduling appointments with deal offers.
The applicant listed for this patent is Groupon, Inc.. Invention is credited to David Katz, Arash Shiva, Simon Vallee.
Application Number | 20160071066 14/935857 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 50386060 |
Filed Date | 2016-03-10 |
United States Patent
Application |
20160071066 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Shiva; Arash ; et
al. |
March 10, 2016 |
METHOD, APPARATUS, AND COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCT FOR SCHEDULING
APPOINTMENTS WITH DEAL OFFERS
Abstract
Provided herein are systems, methods and computer readable media
for scheduling services and other types of appointments in
conjunction with purchasing and/or redeeming deal offers. Merchants
may customize a scheduling system to provide scheduling
capabilities and deal redemption capabilities to consumers
interested in scheduling appointments. A consumer may use the
scheduling system to select dates and times, merchant locations,
and/or staff members, among other things, when scheduling
appointments, and provide deal and/or other payment related
information to the merchant. Merchants may use the scheduling
system and consumer date received therefrom to track resources
across numerous locations, keep apprised of their staffs'
availability, receive/generate analytics data related to the affect
deals have on their business, and gain a better understanding of
their customers. The scheduling system may be integrated into the
merchant's website and/or linked to deals offered by a third party
promotional system.
Inventors: |
Shiva; Arash; (Seattle,
WA) ; Vallee; Simon; (Oakland, CA) ; Katz;
David; (San Francisco, CA) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Groupon, Inc. |
Chicago |
IL |
US |
|
|
Family ID: |
50386060 |
Appl. No.: |
14/935857 |
Filed: |
November 9, 2015 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
13631313 |
Sep 28, 2012 |
|
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|
14935857 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
705/7.19 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06Q 30/0207 20130101;
G06Q 30/02 20130101; G06Q 10/1095 20130101; G06Q 10/1093
20130101 |
International
Class: |
G06Q 10/10 20060101
G06Q010/10; G06Q 30/02 20060101 G06Q030/02 |
Claims
1-20. (canceled)
21. A system comprising: a merchant scheduling interface operative
on a merchant device, wherein the merchant scheduling interface is
configured to receive first merchant inputs and to generate
scheduling data based on the first merchant inputs; a consumer
interface operative on a consumer device, wherein the consumer
interface is configured to transmit a request for scheduling in
response to consumer inputs, wherein the request for scheduling
comprises a selected deal redemption and a merchant identifier; and
a scheduling server configured to receive the scheduling data from
the merchant device and the request for scheduling from the
consumer device, wherein the scheduling server is further
configured to access a deal server comprising a deal database to
determine whether the selected deal redemption is associated with
the scheduling data, and in an instance in which the selected deal
redemption is associated with the scheduling data, the scheduling
server is configured to determine first available appointment times
based on the selected deal redemption and on the scheduling data,
and wherein the scheduling server is further configured to transmit
instructions to the consumer device for displaying the first
available appointment times via the consumer interface, and wherein
the merchant scheduling interface is further configured to receive
second merchant inputs and to generate updated scheduling data
based on the second merchant inputs, wherein the scheduling server
is configured to receive the updated scheduling data from the
merchant scheduling interface and is further configured to access
the deal server comprising the deal database to determine whether
the selected deal redemption is associated with the updated
scheduling data, and in an instance in which the selected deal
redemption is associated with the updated scheduling data the
scheduling server is configured to determine second available
appointment times based on the selected deal redemption and on the
updated scheduling data, and wherein the scheduling server is
further configured to transmit instructions to the consumer device
for displaying the second available appointment times via the
consumer interface.
22. The system of claim 21, wherein at least one of the first
merchant inputs or second merchant inputs indicate a maximum number
percentage of appointments to be scheduled in a given period with
the selected deal redemption.
23. The system of claim 21, wherein at least one of the first
merchant inputs or second merchant inputs indicate merchant
resource information, wherein the scheduling data is generated
further based on the merchant resource information, and wherein the
available appointment times reflect the merchant resource
information.
24. The system of claim 21, wherein the merchant resource
information comprises information relating to tangible equipment
required to perform appointments, and wherein the scheduling data
is generated further based on the information relating to the
tangible equipment.
25. The system of claim 21, wherein the merchant resource
information comprises a time duration required by a service
provider to perform a specific type of appointment, and wherein the
scheduling data is generate further based on the time duration.
26. The system of claim 21, wherein the consumer interface is
further configured to receive a consumer scheduling request
associated with the selected deal redemption and cause transmission
of the consumer scheduling request to the scheduling server, and
wherein the scheduling server is further configured to cause
transmission of the consumer scheduling request to be provided via
the merchant scheduling interface.
27. The system of claim 21, wherein the scheduling server is
further configured to analyze the scheduling data and access the
deal database to generate a new deal offer based on at least the
scheduling data.
28. The system of claim 27, wherein the scheduling server is
further configured to: identify patterns in availability over a
period of time; determine when consumers are less likely to
schedule an appointment based on the identified patterns; and
generate a proposal for the new deal offer based on when consumers
are less likely to schedule an appointment.
29. The system of claim 27, wherein the scheduling server is
further configured to: determine when consumers are more likely to
schedule an appointment from the patterns; and generate a proposal
for a high-demand deal offer based on when consumers are more
likely to schedule an appointment, wherein the high-demand deal
offer indicates a deal that is discounted less than that of the
selected deal offer.
30. An apparatus comprising at least processing circuitry and at
least one memory configured to cause to provide at least: a
merchant scheduling interface operative on a merchant device,
wherein the merchant scheduling interface is configured to receive
first merchant inputs and to generate scheduling data based on the
first merchant inputs; a consumer interface operative on a consumer
device, wherein the consumer interface is configured to transmit a
request for scheduling in response to consumer inputs, wherein the
request for scheduling comprises a selected deal redemption and a
merchant identifier; and a scheduling server configured to receive
the scheduling data from the merchant device and the request for
scheduling from the consumer device, wherein the scheduling server
is further configured to access a deal server comprising a deal
database to determine whether the selected deal redemption is
associated with the scheduling data, and in an instance in which
the selected deal redemption is associated with the scheduling
data, the scheduling server is configured to determine first
available appointment times based on the selected deal redemption
and on the scheduling data, and wherein the scheduling server is
further configured to transmit instructions to the consumer device
for displaying the first available appointment times via the
consumer interface, and wherein the merchant scheduling interface
is further configured to receive second merchant inputs and to
generate updated scheduling data based on the second merchant
inputs, wherein the scheduling server is configured to receive the
updated scheduling data from the merchant scheduling interface and
is further configured to access the deal server comprising the deal
database to determine whether the selected deal redemption is
associated with the updated scheduling data, and in an instance in
which the selected deal redemption is associated with the updated
scheduling data the scheduling server is configured to determine
second available appointment times based on the selected deal
redemption and on the updated scheduling data, and wherein the
scheduling server is further configured to transmit instructions to
the consumer device for displaying the second available appointment
times via the consumer interface.
31. The apparatus of claim 30, wherein at least one of the first
merchant inputs or second merchant inputs indicate a maximum number
percentage of appointments to be scheduled in a given period with
the selected deal redemption.
32. The apparatus of claim 30, wherein at least one of the first
merchant inputs or second merchant inputs indicate merchant
resource information, wherein the scheduling data is generated
further based on the merchant resource information, and wherein the
available appointment times reflect the merchant resource
information.
33. The apparatus of claim 30, wherein the merchant resource
information comprises information relating to tangible equipment
required to perform appointments, and wherein the scheduling data
is generated further based on the information relating to the
tangible equipment.
34. The apparatus of claim 30, wherein the merchant resource
information comprises a time duration required by a service
provider to perform a specific type of appointment, and wherein the
scheduling data is generate further based on the time duration.
35. The apparatus of claim 30, wherein the consumer interface is
further configured to receive a consumer scheduling request
associated with the selected deal redemption and cause transmission
of the consumer scheduling request to the scheduling server, and
wherein the scheduling server is further configured to cause
transmission of the consumer scheduling request to be provided via
the merchant scheduling interface.
36. A computer program product comprising at least one
non-transitory computer-readable medium having computer-readable
program instructions stored therein, the computer-readable program
instructions comprising instructions, which when performed by an
apparatus, are configured to cause the apparatus to provide at
least: a merchant scheduling interface operative on a merchant
device, wherein the merchant scheduling interface is configured to
receive first merchant inputs and to generate scheduling data based
on the first merchant inputs; a consumer interface operative on a
consumer device, wherein the consumer interface is configured to
transmit a request for scheduling in response to consumer inputs,
wherein the request for scheduling comprises a selected deal
redemption and a merchant identifier; and a scheduling server
configured to receive the scheduling data from the merchant device
and the request for scheduling from the consumer device, wherein
the scheduling server is further configured to access a deal server
comprising a deal database to determine whether the selected deal
redemption is associated with the scheduling data, and in an
instance in which the selected deal redemption is associated with
the scheduling data, the scheduling server is configured to
determine first available appointment times based on the selected
deal redemption and on the scheduling data, and wherein the
scheduling server is further configured to transmit instructions to
the consumer device for displaying the first available appointment
times via the consumer interface, and wherein the merchant
scheduling interface is further configured to receive second
merchant inputs and to generate updated scheduling data based on
the second merchant inputs, wherein the scheduling server is
configured to receive the updated scheduling data from the merchant
scheduling interface and is further configured to access the deal
server comprising the deal database to determine whether the
selected deal redemption is associated with the updated scheduling
data, and in an instance in which the selected deal redemption is
associated with the updated scheduling data the scheduling server
is configured to determine second available appointment times based
on the selected deal redemption and on the updated scheduling data,
and wherein the scheduling server is further configured to transmit
instructions to the consumer device for displaying the second
available appointment times via the consumer interface.
37. The computer program product of claim 36, wherein at least one
of the first merchant inputs or second merchant inputs indicate a
maximum number percentage of appointments to be scheduled in a
given period with the selected deal redemption.
38. The computer program product of claim 36, wherein at least one
of the first merchant inputs or second merchant inputs indicate
merchant resource information, wherein the scheduling data is
generated further based on the merchant resource information, and
wherein the available appointment times reflect the merchant
resource information.
39. The computer program product of claim 36, wherein the merchant
resource information comprises information relating to tangible
equipment required to perform appointments, and wherein the
scheduling data is generated further based on the information
relating to the tangible equipment.
40. The computer program product of claim 36, wherein the merchant
resource information comprises a time duration required by a
service provider to perform a specific type of appointment, and
wherein the scheduling data is generate further based on the time
duration.
Description
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
[0001] This application is a continuation of and claims priority to
U.S. application Ser. No. 13/631,313, filed Sep. 28, 2012,
entitled, "Scheduling Appointments with Deal Offers," the entire
contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
FIELD
[0002] Embodiments of the invention relate, generally, to
scheduling consumer appointments with a merchant.
BACKGROUND
[0003] Merchants selling goods and services to consumers may offer
discounts for those goods or services, which are sometimes referred
to herein as "products." Merchants may offer discounts with the
goal of building a long term relationship with a consumer,
increasing sales, promoting different services, or expanding their
product line or consumer base. In this regard, areas for improving
current discounting systems have been identified. Through applied
effort, ingenuity, and innovation, solutions to improve such
systems have been realized and are described in connection with
embodiments of the present invention.
BRIEF SUMMARY
[0004] Systems, methods, and computer readable program code are
provided to, in general, improve merchant discounting and
promotional systems. More specifically, embodiments provided herein
may include a scheduling system, deal system, and/or promotional
system that may be implemented individually and/or configured to
provide synergies when two or more are implemented together.
[0005] A scheduling system may be beneficial to merchants offering
services requiring an appointment, such as salons, massage
therapists, tour companies, and/or the like, and may be used in
conjunction with a deal system and/or promotional system.
Similarly, the scheduling system may be beneficial to consumers who
make appointments (with other consumers, including friends and
family members, and/or with merchants).
[0006] A deal system may also or instead be included in some
embodiments. For example, merchant services and availability can be
maintained by a scheduling system that can be configured to receive
requests from consumers to schedule appointments for services for
which one or more of the consumers would like to redeem one or more
deals that were purchased or otherwise facilitated by a deal
system. According to some embodiments, merchants may view past
appointments and provide associated deal identifiers in order to
indicate that a deal has been redeemed.
[0007] Additionally or alternatively, some embodiments may include
a promotional system. The promotional system can be used to, for
example, analyze scheduling data, generate deal offers based on the
analysis, and offer a deal and/or other promotional materials to a
consumer. Such a promotional system may also provide functionality
for monitoring sales and scheduling data, and generating analytics
data to provide to a merchant. Integrating a scheduling system with
a deal system may provide a merchant with additional data which,
with integration of a promotional system, may allow a business to
better target its consumer base with future deal offers. As such,
an integrated scheduling system, deal system, and/or marketing
system, in addition to one or more consumer devices and merchant
devices, may collectively operate as a "promotional system."
[0008] For example, a promotional system can include one or more
processors on a networked machine that are configured to cause the
presentation of one or more deal offers on one or more consumer
devices. The promotional system can likewise be configured to
receive an indication of a selected deal offer, which was selected
from the one or more deal offers by a consumer and is associated
with a merchant. The promotional system can then determine whether
the selected deal offer is associated with scheduling
functionality. In response to determining the selected deal offer
is associated with the scheduling functionality, merchant
availability information associated with the merchant can be
accessed. The promotional system can also be configured to receive
a scheduling request comprising scheduling details, schedule an
appointment based on the scheduling request, cause the update of
the merchant availability information based on the scheduling
details, receive a deal identifier associated with the selected
deal offer, wherein the deal identifier is associated with a
discount for the services to be performed in connection with the
appointment, and associate the appointment with the deal identifier
to enable the discount to be applied to the appointment.
[0009] In some embodiments, the associating of the appointment with
the deal identifier can occur after the appointment. For example,
after a consumer redeems the appointment, the deal identifier can
be associated with the appointment and the consumer may receive the
discount for the appointment. In other embodiments, the deal
identifier can be associated with the appointment before (e.g., at
time of arrival at the merchant, at time of scheduling the
appointment, when the deal offer is purchased, etc.) and/or during
the appointment.
[0010] The merchant availability information comprises at least one
of: available days and times; service details; class details;
location details; service provider details; and appointment padding
times.
[0011] In some embodiments, the promotional system can be
configured to receive merchant resource information associated with
a resource of the merchant, wherein the merchant resource
information is associated with the appointment; and in response to
the appointment being scheduled, cause the resource information to
be unavailable for other appointments. Receiving the merchant
resource information can comprise, for example, receiving
information related to at least one of: tangible equipment required
to perform the appointment; and time required by a service provider
to perform the appointment, wherein the time required by the
service provider is defined by at least one of: (1) a duration of
time and (2) a start time and an end time. As another example,
receiving the information related to the time required to perform
the appointment comprises receiving at least one of: padding time
to be included between the appointment and another appointment to
be performed by the same staff member; and processing time that is
available during the time required for the appointment, wherein the
service provider associated with the appointment can perform other
services unrelated to the appointment during the processing time of
the appointment.
[0012] In some embodiments, associating the appointment with the
deal identifier comprises: receiving information associated with
the appointment from a scheduling system; receiving the deal
identifier associated with the appointment, wherein the deal
identifier is retrieved from a networked database maintained by a
third party based on the information associated with the
appointment; receiving a request to redeem a deal associated with
the deal identifier; and setting a status of the deal to
redeemed.
[0013] In response to receiving the merchant availability
information, the promotional system can be configured to analyze
scheduling data; generate a new deal offer based on at least the
analysis of the scheduling data associated with the deal
identifier; and provide the deal offer to a consumer. In this
regard, scheduling data, such as when a merchant has unused service
and/or other type of inventory, can be promoted for a discount
prior to the inventory expiring. For example, in the hours or days
leading up to the available time slot, the available time slot can
be realized and a deal offer for the available time slot can be
made available. The new deal offer can be generated is in response
to receiving an indication of a merchant approving the proposed
deal offer that is generated based on the analytics data. The new
deal offer can be generated in response to receiving an indication
of the merchant authorizing a promotional system to execute a
promotional campaign using deal offers.
[0014] In some embodiments, the promotional system can be further
configured to identify patterns in availability over a period of
time; determining when consumers are less likely to schedule an
appointment; and generating a proposal for the new deal offer based
on when consumers are less likely to schedule an appointment.
[0015] Some embodiments can include identifying patterns in
availability over a period of time as a result of analyzing the
scheduling data; determining when consumers are more likely to
schedule an appointment from the patterns; and generating a
proposal for a high-demand deal offer based on when consumers are
more likely to schedule an appointment that is discounted less than
the selected deal offer and/or generating a proposal for a
low-demand deal offer based on when consumers are more likely to
schedule an appointment that is discounted more than the selected
deal offer.
[0016] Some embodiments may also or instead provide a method for
tracking analytics data, comprising: monitoring sales data;
monitoring scheduling data; generating, by a processor of a
networked machine, analytics data based on at least one of the
sales data and the scheduling data; and causing display of
information conveying the analytics data to a merchant. The
analytics data can comprise at least one of: an indication of a
number of appointments booked using a deal offer; an indication of
a percentage of appointments booked using a deal offer compared to
a number of total appointments booked; and an indication that a
deal offer has caused an increase in scheduling of appointments.
Additionally, non-transitory computer readable media can be
configured to provide some or all of the functionality discussed
herein and/or other means for providing the functionality discussed
herein is included in accordance with some embodiments.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING(S)
[0017] Having thus described embodiments of the invention in
general terms, reference will now be made to the accompanying
drawings, which are not necessarily drawn to scale, and
wherein:
[0018] FIGS. 1A-9A show example graphical user interface displays
that may be presented by various components of systems in
accordance with some embodiments discussed herein;
[0019] FIG. 9B shows a flow chart illustrating exemplary processes
in accordance with some embodiments discussed herein;
[0020] FIGS. 10A-10G show example graphical user interface displays
that may be presented by various components of systems in
accordance with some embodiments discussed herein;
[0021] FIG. 10H shows a flow chart illustrating an exemplary
process in accordance with some embodiments discussed herein;
[0022] FIGS. 10I-10J show example graphical user interface displays
that may be presented by various components of systems in
accordance with some embodiments discussed herein;
[0023] FIGS. 10K and 11 show flow charts illustrating exemplary
processes in accordance with some embodiments discussed herein;
[0024] FIG. 12 shows an example system in accordance with some
embodiments discussed herein; and
[0025] FIG. 13 shows a schematic block diagram of circuitry that
can be included in a computing device, such as a merchant device,
consumer device and/or promotional system, in accordance with some
embodiments discussed herein.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0026] Embodiments of the present invention now will be described
more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings,
in which some, but not all embodiments of the inventions are shown.
Indeed, embodiments of the invention may be embodied in many
different forms and should not be construed as limited to the
embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are
provided so that this disclosure will satisfy applicable legal
requirements. Like numbers refer to like elements throughout.
[0027] As used herein, the terms "data," "content," "information"
and similar terms may be used interchangeably to refer to data
capable of being captured, transmitted, received, displayed and/or
stored in accordance with various example embodiments. Thus, use of
any such terms should not be taken to limit the spirit and scope of
the disclosure. Further, where a computing device is described
herein to receive data from another computing device, it will be
appreciated that the data may be received directly from the another
computing device or may be received indirectly via one or more
intermediary computing devices, such as, for example, one or more
servers, relays, routers, network access points, base stations,
and/or the like. Similarly, where a computing device is described
herein to send data to another computing device, it will be
appreciated that the data may be sent directly to the another
computing device or may be sent indirectly via one or more
intermediary computing devices, such as, for example, one or more
servers, relays, routers, network access points, base stations,
and/or the like.
[0028] FIGS. 1A-9A show example displays that may be presented by
one or more display screens of one or more machines, sometimes
referred to herein as "merchant devices," in accordance with some
embodiments discussed herein. For example, the displays of FIGS.
1A-9A may be presented to a merchant by a personal computer and/or
mobile, handheld merchant device. It will be appreciated that any
number of staff members employed by a merchant may have access to
systems such as a promotional system, and, as such, the term
"merchant" will be used herein to describe any user representing
the merchant. The displays of FIG. 1A-8 are examples of graphical
user interfaces that may be provided to aid in configuring, and
maintaining a scheduling system that may be integrated with a deal
and/or promotional system. The display of FIG. 9A may provide a
deal redemption interface for a merchant utilizing an integrated
scheduling-deal system, and optionally, a promotional system. The
display of FIG. 10 may provide for scheduling of an appointment by
a merchant, consumer, or the like, by use of one or more machines.
Similar to a merchant device, as described above, a machine used by
a consumer may be referred to herein as a "consumer device" and may
be a personal computer (e.g., desktop computer) and/or mobile
device (e.g., tablet computer, laptop computer, cellular telephone,
etc.). Examples of merchant devices and consumer devices are
discussed in connection with FIGS. 12 and 13.
[0029] The display of FIG. 1A, namely display 100, is an example
graphical user interface that may be displayed by a merchant device
to a merchant and help enable the merchant to register to use an
online scheduling system provided by a third party, such as a
promotional system. Display 100 may be accessed in response to, for
example, selecting a link on a webpage and/or in an email, and/or
by any other suitable way to indicate a desire to create an account
with a scheduling system. In some embodiments, merchants may be
presented with a link to navigate to a display, such as display
100, while accessing a deal system or responding to promotional
material provided by the promotional system. As such, a deal
identifier may be stored in session upon accessing display 100.
Display 100 may include user input fields 104, in which a merchant
may enter business information, such as, for example, an email
address, business name, business category, and country of
operation. Display 100 may include any additional content or user
inputs, as well as an option 106 for a merchant to register to use
a scheduling system.
[0030] Merchant access to a scheduling system may be authorized
automatically, or may require approval by an administrator, or the
like, of the scheduling system. Additionally or alternatively, a
merchant may be asked to confirm an email address by receiving a
confirmation email and following the instructions, such as
selecting a link in the email, in order to activate an account.
Merchants with an active account may access a display 110 of FIG.
1B to provide locations of their businesses. For example, a
merchant may indicate a desire to configure and/or maintain
business details at 112 and/or indicate a desire to setup or
maintain business locations at 114. In this example, locations
recognized by the scheduling system as being associated with the
merchant may be provided on display 100, such as the store
displayed in display area 116. Such locations may be preloaded into
the scheduling system from another system, such as, for example, a
deal system, another sister system included in the promotional
system, a third party system (such as a publically available phone
and/or address database), and/or any other source of information.
For example, the merchant may have previously offered a deal to
consumers using a deal system and may now want to register to use
the scheduling system. Upon entering the information into display
100, any location that previously offered deals using the deal
system may be pre-populated for the merchant in display 110.
[0031] Additionally or alternatively, locations provided to the
scheduling system during a prior configuration session may be
retrieved and displayed. The display of business locations may
include any details regarding the location, such as, but not
limited to a name, phone number, address, and/or any other location
information. The business location information may be grouped
together and displayed, such as in display area 116, and may be
selectable as a single entity and function as a link to another
display that, for example, allows modification of the location
details. Additionally or alternatively, an indicator such as option
118 may be provided to allow for entry of information related to
another business location.
[0032] Display 120 of FIG. 1C is an example display used for adding
a location to a merchant account registered with a scheduling
system that may be provided in response to determining that option
118 has been selected. It will be appreciated that a same or
similar display may be used to edit an existing location. Display
120 may appear as a layer over display 110, so that a user may view
both displays, and/or display 110 may transition into display 120
such that only display 120 may be visible. It will be appreciated
that the same design and/or implementation options may be
considered in regard to the displays discussed herein, including
FIGS. 1A-9A and 10A-10F. Returning to display 120, merchants may
use input fields 122 to provide location details, including, for
example, location name, phone number, and/or address. In an
instance where display 120 is used to modify an existing location,
some or all of user input fields 122 may be prefilled with the
existing information as retrieved from a scheduling system when
display 120 is initially presented to the merchant user.
[0033] Display 120 may also provide an option 126 for a user to
initiate transition of display 120 to display 130, shown in FIG.
1D, to provide resource information related to the merchant
location information being added or edited. In this regard, display
130 may comprise user input fields 134 configured to accept
resource information. Resource information may include data
regarding any physical asset and/or other tangible equipment used
to provide a service. For example, a massage therapist may use
display 130 to add resource information for tracking massage tables
and/or rooms, which may then be used as resources in scheduling
appointments. As another example, a bicycle tour company may use
display 130 to enter resource information for each of its bicycles
and track the use of the bicycles as resources. In this regard, the
scheduling system can be configured to track inventory of
merchants' resources to make sure sufficient resources are
available for an appointment (e.g., aid in assuring there are
enough bikes available at 3:00 pm for a party of four people). As
such, a merchant user may utilize embodiments herein to create,
upload and subsequently access resource information related to the
location, use, and/or availability of equipment and/or other
resources, to prevent overbooking and/or misallocation of
resources. Additionally or alternatively, a service provider may be
considered as a resource. As such, resource information may include
time required by a service provider to perform the appointment. The
time required by the service provider may be defined by, for
example, a duration of time, a start time and an end time, and/or
by any other suitable means.
[0034] Display 130 may also provide an indicator, such as save
button 136, for saving resource information associated with a
merchant's location. Saved resource information may be stored on
the scheduling system and display 110 of FIG. 1B may be updated to
display the saved locations, including newly added locations as
well as updates to existing locations.
[0035] Continuing now to FIG. 2A, display 200 may be a variation of
display 110, where area 204 changes in response to an indication at
220 to display staff information. Accordingly, area 204 may provide
information for existing staff members, such as staff member
information 206. Staff information may include the name of the
staff member and any other information provided. Staff information,
like any other information discussed herein, may be loaded (e.g.,
auto-imported) into the scheduling system from another source such
as a deal system and/or merchant system, and/or provided by a
merchant using a merchant device configured to present the displays
of FIGS. 2A-2C. For example, a merchant may indicate by selecting
option 208 a desire to add a staff member, and may be subsequently
provided with a display, such as display 210 shown in FIG. 2B, to
provide the staff member details. Additionally or alternatively, an
existing staff member, such as that represented by staff member
information 206, may be selected by the merchant and the selection
may be interpreted by the merchant device as an indication to edit
the associated staff member information.
[0036] Display 210 of FIG. 2B may be used to provided staff member
details, such as, for example, a name, picture, and/or description
associated with the staff member. Staff member information may be
provided via user input fields included in area 214, where a
picture input field may include an interface for indicating a local
file name and location for uploading, such as, for example, an
interface allowing local file browsing and selection for uploading.
It will be appreciated that in an instance where a user is
modifying details for a staff member already in the scheduling
system, user input fields 214 may be prefilled. A user may
indicate, by selecting option 212, a desire to transition display
210 to another display, such as display 220 of FIG. 2C, with which
staff member available hours by location may be displayed and/or
otherwise configured. A user may select a location, such as
location option 222. In instances where only one business location
is stored on the scheduling system, an individual location option
may not be displayed, and a user may assume the staff member hours
will be associated with the existing location. In area 224, the
scheduling system may provide inputs for a user to indicate days
and times a staff member is available to provide consumers services
and/or otherwise works at a selected store and/or other type of
location associated with the merchant. The example display 220 may
be configured to provide a recurring weekly scheduled for a staff
member, however, it will be appreciated that any configuration for
scheduling hours may be provided, such as monthly scheduling or
custom scheduling. The scheduling system may also provide an input
for a user to indicate at which intervals an appointment with the
staff member may begin, such as user input field 226. A user may
indicate saving staff information by way of an indicator, such as
save option 228. Saved staff information may be stored in the
scheduling system and updated when presented in display 200.
[0037] Display 300 of FIG. 3A may be another variation of display
100 and/or 200, where area 304 has been transitioned to present
service information in response to, for example, options 302 being
selected. Service information, such as that displayed at service
option 308, may be loaded into the scheduling system from another
source such as a deal system, merchant system, and/or the like,
and/or it may be provided by use of displays such as those in FIG.
3A-3E. The service information may include a name, average length
of appointment for the service, cost, comments regarding the
service and/or any other information associated with a service.
[0038] In some embodiments, area 304 may display services by
category, such as category 306. In this example, service option 308
is assigned to category 306. A user may add a category by selecting
option 310, which may trigger the transition to display 316 of FIG.
3B. On display 316, a user may indicate the name of a new category
to add, causing display 300 to update and display the newly added
category. A user may also select an indicator, such as option 312
and/or option 314, where option 314 provides for adding a service
to category 306 and option 312 provides for adding a service not
assigned to particular category. In some embodiments, a merchant
may drag and drop a service from one category to another, in order
to change the assigned category while otherwise preserving the
configuration of the service. Similarly, services may be reordered
within a category, such as for example, to move a more commonly
used service to a first position in the category.
[0039] A display, such as display 320 of FIG. 3C, may be shown in
response to receiving an indication to add a new service by
determining there was a selection of option 314 and/or to edit an
existing service based on detecting a selection of service option
308. User input fields 322 may be prefilled in an instance where a
service is being edited. Such user input fields may include, but
are not limited to the name of the service, an average length, in
minutes, hours or the like, a padding time that may be blocked
prior to and/or following an appointment, and/or a price that may
be fixed, variable, or not pre-set, among other things.
[0040] In some embodiments, a merchant may also provide a
processing time for particular services or service combinations.
For example, salon services associated with service option 308 may
require the attention of a staff member for 20 minutes to apply a
hair color, but the staff member may subsequently have 30 minutes
to work on other services and/or administrative work while the
color sets, before having to return to the consumer for 40 minutes
to rinse out and style. In other words, the staff member may have
30 minutes processing time 20 minutes into an 80 minute
appointment, and that processing time can be tracked to allow for
optimal and/or maximized scheduling of services, staff members,
and/or resources.
[0041] Padding time may differentiated from processing time in that
padding time, as referred to herein, is more akin to downtime
(e.g., non-service time) needed or otherwise desired between
adjacent appointments provided by the same staff member to allow
the staff member to, for example, clean the service area (e.g.,
turn-over a table, sterilize massage equipment, refill go-cart gas
tanks, etc.). Processing time, as referred to herein, is downtime
(or other non-service time) during an appointment that can be
constructively managed and scheduled to enable assets to be more
fully utilized throughout the day (e.g., Segways used to provide
tours of a city may be rented for a relatively short period of time
if the tour group is scheduled to stop for lunch and/or visit a
museum off the Segways for a few hours).
[0042] The service information inputs may also include a
description that may be used to describe what a consumer could
expect from such an appointment, or any other information a
merchant would like to associate with a service. A user may
additionally indicate via option 326 to assign staff members to a
service. As such, on display 330 of FIG. 3D, staff members stored
in the scheduling system with respect to the staff details, which
may have been received by the system via FIGS. 2A-2C, may be
displayed in area 336 to assist the merchant in indicating which
staff member(s) may provide the service. Additionally or
alternatively, a user may indicate by selection option 338 to
transition to display 340 of FIG. 3E to configure the scheduling
system to prompt a client with a question when scheduling an
appointment for a particular service. In area 342, the merchant may
provide a question to be asked and/or other information to be
presented to a consumer during scheduling of an appointment, and
may optionally indicate that an answer is required by a consumer
when scheduling the appointment. A merchant may indicate, such as
via a save button 348, to save the provided service details to the
scheduling system. In response, display area 304 may update to
reflect any additions or changes in services.
[0043] Continuing to FIG. 4A, where display 400 may be another
variation of display 100, and where a merchant user has selected to
configure a class type. Similar to the configuration of services,
classes, such as that represented by class information box 406, may
be grouped by category, such as category 404, and/or may be created
independently and/or not assigned to a category. In some
embodiments, a class may be handled by the system as a type of
container associated with multiple participants and/or service
appointments. A class scheduling may be configured to require a
minimums and/or maximum number of participants, and may be
configured to allow or restrict deal redemption in conjunction with
scheduling a class. For example, only a certain percent of class
participants may be allowed to redeem a deal to book a class.
[0044] Option 402 may provide an option to add a class category,
which may be added via a display, such as display 418 of FIG. 4B.
Returning to display 400, a merchant may add a class type by
selecting an option, such as option 408, within category 404, or
option 410. A user may also modify existing class information by
selecting a class such as class information box 406. Class
schedules may also and/or instead be defined when starting from the
schedule tab (discussed in connection with, e.g., FIG. 6), after
which they can be made available for scheduling in accordance with
the parameters provided via display 420. For example, the number of
participants or "appointments" within the class may be limited by
the class size indicated in area 416 even if the class is defined
and/or display 420 presented via the schedule tab.
[0045] Example display 420 of FIG. 4C provides user input fields in
area 416 to provide details of a class type. Such details may
include a class name, length, padding before and/or after the
class, price, maximum class size, and a description. As shown in
display 430 of FIG. 4D, a merchant may additionally enter into data
field 426 a question to be asked and/or provide other information
to be displayed to a consumer when the consumer is scheduling to
take a class. An option, such as save button 438, may be used to
initiate the saving of the class details to the scheduling system.
In response, display 400 may update to reflect the changes and/or
additions in class types.
[0046] Continuing to display 500 of FIG. 5, in some embodiments a
merchant may indicate a desire to manage a client list, such as by
selecting option 502. A "client," as referred to herein, can
include a consumer who has purchased product and/or is scheduled to
purchase product from the merchant. Display 500 may include a list
of current clients in display area 516. The clients included in
display area 516 may be loaded to the scheduling system from
another source, such as a deal system. For example, clients who
have purchased a deal from the merchant in the past may be
automatically loaded into the scheduling system. Clients may also
be imported from other systems, such as another third party
system(s) and/or other system(s) maintained by the merchant.
Additionally or alternatively, the scheduling system may store
client information associated with clients who are scheduling
appointments using the scheduling system, but whose information is
not already stored in the scheduling system. In some embodiments,
users may activate a search interface by selecting an option, such
as option 512. Users may search for a client by using a search
input, such as text provided to input area 514, that may result in
the filtering of client list in display area 516 to only display
clients matching the search criteria. A search may be run against
any client identifier (e.g., client name), and the search may be
initiated upon entry of each character, or upon receiving
indication from a user. As another example, a search based on
metadata associated with the client can be performed. For example,
metadata may be associated with the client indicating the client
has redeemed a deal offer, such as those provided by Groupon, Inc.,
and by typing "Groupon" into input area 514 the merchant can view
clients that have redeemed a Groupon deal offer with the merchant
in the past.
[0047] Selection of a client listing included in display area 516
may result in loading in area 522 client information associated
with the client. An option, such as option 518, may be selected and
cause the displaying of the same fields of area 522. In an instance
in which a user is providing new client information, the inputs may
initially be empty and may provide a means for a user to add a new
client to the scheduling system. The client information to be
modified and/or added may include, but is not limited to, a client
name, email address, phone number, notes about the client, and/or
the client's address. Client information may be saved in response
to save button 524 being selected and, for example, the scheduling
system may store the new and/or updated client information. The
next time the client list is displayed (e.g., in display 500), it
may reflect any changes in display area 516. Additionally or
alternatively, a merchant may delete a client from the client list
shown in display area 516 by selecting an option, such as delete
button 520.
[0048] In some embodiments, in response to selection of an existing
client, scheduling information associated with the client may be
displayed. For example, area 532 of display 500 includes a
selection to display past appointments or appointments scheduled
for the future. Appointment details matching the filtering criteria
may be displayed in area 536. The displayed appointment details may
include, but are not limited to, an appointment type, date, time,
length, staff member providing the service, and the location at
which the appointment was held. Additionally or alternatively, some
information may be displayed as a link, such as the appointment
type 538. Such a link may provide additional details with respect
to the appointment.
[0049] Continuing to FIG. 6, display 600 may be another variation
of display 100, modified in response to indication at 602 that a
user wants to manage the merchant's schedule. As such, display 600
may include a configurable calendar view of the merchant's
schedule. When applicable, the calendar may be manipulated by
location filters and/or staff filters 604, among other things. The
filters may be used in any combination, including individually, to
manipulate how the information associated with the merchant's
schedule is displayed. For example, a user may select a location, a
staff member, or both. Given the user's selection, the calendar may
display appointments, such as appointment 608, with all staff
members for the selected location, all locations for a single staff
member, or all appointments for all locations and all staff
members. Additionally or alternatively, a user may change the view
of the calendar to a day or month view using option 606. A user may
navigate to future time periods by selecting an option included in
display 600, such as option 610.
[0050] In some embodiments, a user may initiate adding an item to
the calendar of display 600 by selecting option 612. In response to
selecting option 612, the scheduling system may cause an overlay to
be presented, such as overlay 618 of display 616 shown in FIG. 6A.
According to this example, a user may select to add an appointment,
add busy time, and/or add a class, which will be described in more
detail with regard to FIGS. 6B-6E and 7A-7B, respectively.
[0051] FIG. 6B shows an example display, namely display 630, that
may be presented following selection of an option included in
overlay 618 to a add busy time to a schedule. "Busy time," as
referred to herein, includes time that may be unavailable for
booking by a consumer in a merchant's schedule. Busy time may be
scheduled, for example, to enable merchants to have a break (for
personal, professional, legal and/or other reason), early closings,
holidays, and/or for any other reason to prevent a consumer from
scheduling an appointment during a specific time frame, which may
be related to or agnostic to one or more particular staff members
and/or one particular merchant locations. Display 630 is shown as
including area 632 for the merchant to provide busy time details.
In this example, a merchant may enter a date and time, optional
repeat details, a staff member, description, notes, and an
indicator of whether or not to prevent online bookings by a
consumer during the blocked period. It will be appreciated that
area 632 may include any combination of the example data fields
and/or any additional information regarding the busy time. In
response to receiving an indication from a user to save any
changes, such as determining there has been a selection of save
button 634, the busy time may optionally be validated, such as, for
example, against the existing schedule. More particularly, in an
instance where an appointment is already scheduled, an alert may be
presented to a merchant that it may need to reschedule a consumer's
appointment. The busy time may be saved to the scheduling system
and any subsequent requests to view a schedule may result in a
display including the busy time. Busy time may display in such a
way that it is visually distinguished from appointments, such as,
for example, displaying in a different color, font, etc.
Additionally or alternatively, different information may display on
a schedule for busy time relative to that of appointments.
[0052] In some embodiments, in addition to or instead of blocking
time out as busy time, at least some of the merchant's time (e.g.,
one or more blocks of time) on the merchant's schedule can be
identified as "deal-less" time. As referred to herein, deal-less
time is when the merchant will not accept an otherwise valid (or
other type of) deal offer for services performed during those
times. For example, the merchant may indicate that a valid deal
offer may not be redeemable at times during which the city provides
free parking and use embodiments discussed herein to convey to the
consumer when are those times. The merchant may utilize embodiments
discussed herein to manage and/or notify the consumer in advance
the times during which the merchant will not accept a deal offer
for services performed (e.g., even if the merchant has availability
to make an appointment at that time). In some embodiments, the
merchant's configuring one or more deal-less times will override
any automated functionality with regards to generating potential
deal offers (such as based on analytics data discussed below). In
other embodiments, the system's ability to make suggestions as to
potential deal offers will ignore and/or take only take into
consideration (as opposed to being completely overridden) the
deal-less time(s). Additionally or alternatively, like other
examples discussed herein in relation to time management, similar
functionality (e.g., deal-less functionality) can be associated
with the merchant's non-time based inventory. For example, certain
tangible assets may have deal-less associations that can be managed
by embodiments discussed herein. Additionally, deal-less times
and/or restrictions can be dynamically configured based on one or
more parameters entered by the merchant and/or third party user
(e.g., times that have fee parking, relative availability of the
merchant, holidays, short work weeks, etc.). For example, deal-less
time may be eliminated during a non-tourist season or when it is
raining outside (as reported by an online weather service for the
merchant's zip code). Additionally or alternatively, some
embodiments may restrict a consumer from redeeming a purchased deal
offer for the service and/or appointment being scheduled during
timeframes based on the deal, such as a time-restricted deal for
high-demand or low-demand timeframes (additional examples of which
are discussed below).
[0053] FIG. 6C shows an example display, display 640, that may be
used by a user to add an appointment to the merchant schedule. Such
a display may be used, for example, by a the merchant during a
phone call with a consumer wanting to schedule an appointment, or
while a consumer is onsite at the merchant location and wishes to
schedule a future appointment. In example display 640, area 642 may
provide user input fields for the merchant to enter appointment
scheduling information. Appointment scheduling information may
include a day and time of appointment, repeat appointment details,
type of service, staff member, deal type and identifier to be used
in paying for the service, price to be charged, and/or client
information. The appointment details may include any number of
these items, and/or additional items a merchant may want to enter.
Additionally, some appoint scheduling information may prefill, such
as client information, as it is typed, and/or as a name is selected
from an existing list of clients. An optional indicator for sending
a client an email confirmation may also be provided. In this
example, an additional display, such as display 650 of FIG. 6D, can
provide additional and/or alternative consumer information input
fields, such as address fields, that may be included in area
652.
[0054] A display such as display 660 of FIG. 6E may provide the
ability for a merchant user, such as a staff member, to provide
information regarding a deal offer the consumer would like to
redeem in conjunction with scheduling the appointment. For example,
an additional promotional system option may be provided that
enables deal offer information to be entered in area 662. Display
660 may also include a description of the deal offer being
redeemed, which may be freely entered, and/or selected from a drop
down of available deal offers and/or a voucher numbers associated
with deal offers. Area 664 may be used to display details
associated with the deal information (e.g., including a preview of
a printable and/or machine readable form that may be presented by
the consumer to redeem the deal offer) in area 662.
[0055] In response to receiving an indication, such as a selection
of a save button 666, the appointment may be saved to the
scheduling system and any displays of the schedule updated
accordingly. Additionally or alternatively, client information
provided during the appointment scheduling may be synchronized with
the client list on the scheduling system. As such, any newly added
clients may be added to the list, and/or updates to existing
clients while scheduling an appointment may be reflected in the
client list. Confirmation emails may be generated according to
display indicators, merchant settings, and/or system other system
default settings, among other things. In some embodiments, a
consumer may receive an email confirming a booking Additionally or
alternatively, a staff member may receive a confirmation and/or
subsequent reminder of an appointment when an appointment requiring
the staff member's services is scheduled.
[0056] Continuing to FIG. 7A, display 700 is an example display
that may be presented following selection of an option included in
overlay 618 to schedule a class. Area 702 of display 700 can
include one or more user input fields configured to receive various
types of data, such as, for example, day and time, repeat options,
class type selection, staff member teaching the class, notes, and
indicators related to whether or not a client should receive a
notification email following registration, among other things.
[0057] A merchant may indicate, by selecting option 708, a desire
to transition to a different display, such as display 710 of FIG.
7B, used to maintain the list of clients scheduled to participate.
In display 710, a merchant user may enter client information in
area 712, and/or the user may select a client from a client list.
Additionally or alternatively, a user may indicate a deal type
and/or provide a deal identifier, price, notes, and/or other
information pertaining to the class in which the client would like
to sign-up to participate in. In response to receiving an
indication of saving a scheduled class, such as determining save
button 714 has been selected, the scheduling system may store the
class details, including client list. The class may appear on a
display of a schedule, and the scheduling system may generate
emails to associated clients and/or staff members.
[0058] Continuing to FIGS. 8A-8D, a merchant may access displays
800, 810, 820, and 830, respectively, during an initial account
setup and/or from any other display by indicating the merchant
wishes to edit its account settings. The account settings may
include any details pertaining to the merchant's business,
including, for example, scheduling of appointments, notifying staff
and clients, general business times of operation, and/or any other
merchant related information. For example, by selecting option 802
of display 800, a merchant user may configure settings to indicate
how consumers will be able to schedule appointments, including, for
example, whether or not new appointments will be automatically or
manually accepted, whether to prevent customers from choosing a
service provider, the amount of time (e.g., in hours) before an
appointment during which cancellations can be made, the amount of
time before an available time slot during which an appointment can
be made, and/or how far in advance appointment time slots may be
made available to prospective consumers and/or past clients.
[0059] As another example, option 812 can be selected and, in
response, display 810 can be presented. Display 810 can be
configured to provide user input fields to configure email
notifications to staff and clients, among other things. For
example, a reminder can also be configured and, in some
embodiments, the amount of time before the appointment the reminder
should be sent to clients and/or a service provider(s). A service
provider may include a staff member, owner, contractor or any other
person or thing that provides a service and is associated with the
merchant.
[0060] In response to option 822 being selected, display 820 can be
configured to provide area 824 having code (e.g., in the HTML
language) that is generated by, for example, the scheduling system
to enable the merchant to copy the code onto another website for
clients to select to access the scheduling system to schedule an
appointment. In response to selecting option 826, a preview can be
provided to the merchant to see how the booking instructions will
look to the consumer when run.
[0061] An example preview is shown in FIG. 8E. Client bookings are
discussed further in connection with, for example, FIGS. 10A-10F.
An additional and/or alternative display, namely display 830 of
FIG. 8D, may be used to configure a merchant's website for
consumers to access the scheduling system. Areas 832, 834, and 836
provide Javascript code, HTML code, and a direct link reference,
respectively, that a merchant user may use to customize a website,
allowing consumers to access the scheduling system to schedule
appointments.
[0062] Display 840 of FIG. 8E provides an example button 842 that
may be produced using any of the code described with respect to
display 820 and/or 830. Button 842 may provide the merchant with a
preview of what a customer may see displayed on the merchant's
website. In some embodiments, a display such as display 850 of FIG.
8F, may be presented to a merchant user as including area 852 for
sharing a booking link via various social media and/or other third
party websites.
[0063] Continuing with the displays for configuring settings, in
response to option 862 being selected, display 860 may be presented
as shown in FIG. 8G. Display 860 can be configured to provide entry
and/or modification of the business name, category and/or other
merchant information as it would be displayed to consumers.
[0064] Moving ahead to when the consumer visits the merchant or
otherwise utilize an appointment that was previously scheduled, the
merchant may enable the consumer to redeem a deal offer that was
purchased. Similarly, the merchant may offer the consumer at the
time of purchase an opportunity to purchase a deal offer, such as
those generated, marketed and/or sold by a promotional system. A
display, such as display 900 of FIG. 9A, can be included in such
embodiments of the scheduling system. Display 900 includes
information related to both the scheduled appointment(s) and the
deal offers, which associates a voucher number (and/or other deal
offer identifying information) with one or more particular
appointments and enables the merchant to redeem the deal offer when
the consumer checks-in for the scheduled appointment, when the
consumer pays for the product, or subsequently thereafter (e.g.,
after the consumer has left the merchant and the merchant's cashier
has already given the consumer the monetary value of the deal as a
discount).
[0065] A related flow chart according to some embodiments is shown
in FIG. 9B. At 920, a merchant may indicate a desire to view a
filtered list of past appointments using the scheduling system. For
example, the merchant may select a "redeemable" option at user
input field 902 on display 900, which may include one or more
listings that each have information associated with the appointment
(derived from data maintained by the scheduling system) and the
deal offer (derived from data maintained by the promotional
system).
[0066] At 922, display 900 may update to display redeemable deal
offer information and/or other associated appointment information.
In some embodiments, the deal offer information may be retrieved
from a remote database, such as those discussed below in connection
with a promotional system. In some embodiments, the deal offer
information may be manually entered by the user into user input
field 908.
[0067] In some embodiments, display 900 may also include a "no
show" option, such as option 904, that can be used by the merchant
to indicate to the system that a client has missed an appointment
without redeeming the associated deal offer. In response to a
merchant selecting a "no show" indicator, a determination can be
made at 924 of FIG. 9B and the client may receive an email
prompting the client to reschedule the missed appointment at
926.
[0068] In response to determining at 924 that option 904 has not
been selected and/or redeem option 910 being selected, the system
may determine that the appointment described in the listing
associated with redeem option 910 was held as scheduled. In some
embodiments, the total bill amount associated with the products
provided during the appointment can be manually entered and/or
automatically populated into input field 906 as shown at 928. At
930, the deal identifier can be entered and/or otherwise received
and displayed in display 900. In some embodiments, such as those in
which a consumer purchases a deal while scheduling an appointment
or service, the deal identifier may or may not be displayed, but
nevertheless may be associated with the scheduling request, as
described with respect to 1072 hereinafter.
[0069] In response to receiving an indication that redeem option
910 has been selected at 932 of FIG. 9B, the process proceeds to
934 and the promotional system may be configured to validate the
deal identifier and bill amount with respect to appointment details
and/or the like. For example, the scheduling system and/or a
payment system may communicate over a network with the promotional
system that manages the deal offer (and others) to ensure, for
example, that the deal identifier has not been used (nor has
expired prior to the consumer's appointment), that the deal may be
used for the service type, that the total bill amount meets a
minimum bill requirement, and/or that the system may enforce any
other rules associated with deal redemption. In an instance where
validation is successful, a confirmation message can be generated
and provided to a client at 936. At 938, the promotional system may
receive an indicator of the deal offer's redemption, save the
redemption information, and/or update a status of an associated
deal in a deal system to "redeemed." Updating the status may ensure
the deal is not subsequently used again. In response to determining
at 940 that the deal may not be redeemed, an error message can be
displayed to the merchant.
[0070] FIGS. 10A-10G and show example displays that a consumer may
access to schedule an appointment, and FIGS. 10H and 10K show
flowcharts of example processes associated with the displays,
according to some embodiments. A consumer may access the displays
of FIGS. 10A-10J via a consumer device configured to provide a link
and/or other type of selectable option. For example, a merchant
website, such as one produced by code provided on display 820, may
include a link to display, such as display 1000 shown in FIG. 10A.
Additionally or alternatively, a consumer may access the displays
following purchase of a deal on a promotional system, or by any
other method made available to the consumer.
[0071] Display 1000 may provide for selection of a location from a
plurality of locations associated with a merchant. In area 1002,
the locations, as configured by the merchant user with respect to
FIGS. 1B-1D, may be presented as listings as shown in FIG. 10A
and/or in any other suitable manner. One or more of the locations,
such as the location associated with a highlighted listing, may be
represented on a map in area 1004 of display 1000. A consumer may
use display 1000 to select the merchant location at which the
consumer wishes to book an appointment.
[0072] For example, subsequent to selecting a location and then
next button 1006, display 1010 of FIG. 10B can be presented to the
consumer. Display 1010 can include merchant services in area 1012.
The services shown in display 1010 can be those configured using,
for example, the merchant displays discussed in connection with
FIGS. 3A-3E. A listing of available services can also be displayed
in listing area 1014. For example, display 1010 may enable a
consumer to view available services and associated details, and may
indicate the service type the client would like to schedule.
[0073] In FIG. 10C, display 1020 can be configured to include area
1022 for selecting a staff member in response to next button 1016
being selected. Had button 1018 been selected instead, display 1000
may have been presented instead of display 1020. In this example,
the staff members available at the particular location and/or to
provide the particular service may be configured by the merchant
using, e.g., displays of FIGS. 2A-2C. In some embodiments, the
available staff members can be presented to the consumer in a
dropdown menu (and/or any other format).
[0074] Display 1030 of FIG. 10D can be presented in response to
next button 1024 being selected. Display 1030 can include available
appointment times in area 1032 that are updated based on, e.g., the
selected staff member's availability, and as accessed in the
scheduling system. In determining what information to present in
area 1032, the scheduling system may take into account, for
example, other scheduled appointments and/or busy time on the
merchant's schedule. Additionally or alternatively, a consumer
indicating he/she is redeeming a deal for the service or
appointment being scheduled, may be restricted from scheduling
during timeframes based on the deal, such as a time-restricted deal
for high-demand or low-demand timeframes, and/or be notified of
deal-less times. A user may select an appointment opening in area
1032, indicating the day and time of its appointment. Displays
1000-1030 are example displays by which a system may receive
scheduling details as shown at operation 1060 of FIG. 10H.
[0075] In response to next button 1034 being selected, display 1040
of FIG. 10E can be presented to the consumer. Using display 1040,
the consumer may provide personal information (e.g., name, email
address, phone number, and/or other potentially relevant
information the merchant may ask for or appreciate knowing to
accommodate the consumer) using the input fields of area 1042. Some
or all of the information may be prefilled if a consumer has
previously provided the information (to, e.g., the merchant, a
promotional system, other service provider, etc.). For example, a
consumer may have provided some or all of the information when
purchasing a deal offer from a promotional system, and the
scheduling system may access the information from the promotional
system and pre-populate the fields for the user. Additionally or
alternatively, area 1042 of display 1040 may include a question
directed at the consumer, as configured during the setup described
with respect to FIG. 3E. A deal indicator, such as a voucher number
associated with a purchased deal offer, may likewise or
alternatively be prefilled, and/or provided by a consumer. In some
embodiments, the voucher number entry field may be dynamically
displayed in scenarios in which a consumer has indicated he/she has
a deal to redeem (e.g., by selecting an on-screen option associated
with having a redeemable deal offer when scheduling an appointment
via the merchant's website, or when purchasing a deal offer via a
marketing system's website, etc.). For example, when scheduling an
appointment after buying a deal offer, the deal offer that was just
purchased may be automatically associated with the scheduled
appointment. When there is no indication that the consumer has a
deal offer applicable to an appointment being scheduled, the
voucher number receipt field 1046 may be hidden or otherwise
omitted from display 1040. Additionally or alternatively, a
selectable option may be provided with any of displays 1000, 1010,
1020, 1030, 1040 and/or 1050, prompting a user to select the option
when the user has a deal to redeem, and to subsequently provide the
deal offer information such as a voucher number.
[0076] In response to the consumer selecting confirm button 1044,
the system may determine that the consumer has confirmed all
information that is going to be provided has been entered into area
1042. With regards to the process shown in FIG. 10H, any additional
consumer information may be collected and/or retrieved at 1062
and/or a deal identifier may be received at 1064. The deal
identifier may be a code and/or any other suitable form of
information that is associated with a discount for the services to
be performed during the appointment. As shown by indicator 1065,
merchant resource information may be provided. The merchant
resource information may be associated with a resource of the
merchant, such as tangible equipment to be used during an
appointment and/or at another time by a service provider. As such,
resource information may include time required by a service
provider to perform the appointment defined by a duration of time
and/or a start time and an end time, for example. The merchant
resource information may be associated with the appointment so that
associated resource(s) may be made unavailable during appointments
occurring at the same or overlapping times.
[0077] Subsequently, at 1066, a determination can be made whether
the appointment is valid. For example, at 1066, the validation
functionality may include communications between a promotional
system and the scheduling system that the information received,
such as the deal offer identifier, is valid. In response to
determining the deal offer identifier is invalid and/or there was
any other invalid information (e.g., the user information could not
be confirmed because it differs from the user information
associated with the deal offer information), a display error can be
presented at 1068.
[0078] Subsequent to determining the information is valid at 1066,
display 1050 of FIG. 10F can be presented to the consumer
confirming the appointment. For example, area 1052 of display 1050
can include appointment details, such as location, service type(s),
appointment time, and/or cancellation policies, among other
things.
[0079] Returning to FIG. 10H, the scheduling system may be updated,
at 1070, to store the scheduled appointment (such as the
information received from the consumer). The information stored at
1070 may be used to populate displays presented to the merchant,
such as display 600 discussed above. The appointment may be saved
such that a resource(s), including a service provider or tangible
equipment, for example, is made unavailable during the appointment
time or overlapping appointment times. As such, double booking of
resources may be prevented.
[0080] At 1072, a deal identifier, if provided by the consumer
and/or otherwise associated automatically based on the consumer
provided information (e.g., by automatically matching the
information provided when scheduling an appointment with consumer
information provided when purchasing a deal offer associated with
the merchant), may be associated with the appointment for future
retrieval and display. Similarly, a deal identifier may be stored
in session, for example, particularly in a scenario in which a
consumer purchased a deal during the same session while scheduling
the appointment. Associating the deal identifier to the appointment
may enable the discount to be applied to a consumer's bill after
the appointment, or prior to being charged for the service, for
example.
[0081] Additionally or alternatively, at 1074, consumer information
may be updated in the scheduling system's client list, by adding a
new client, or updating information for an existing client, as
provided during the appointment scheduling request. The consumer
and/or merchant may be notified of the appointment by email, secure
message, according to account settings, as shown at 1076, such as
the example notification 1053 of FIG. 10G. The notification may
include any appointment information, such as the name of the
merchant, appointment date and time, location address, and/or staff
member scheduled to provide the service, among other things. The
notification may also include a link to view the appointment within
the scheduling system.
[0082] As another example, a process for scheduling an appointment
may originate when purchasing or otherwise claiming a deal and/or
other promotional offer. FIG. 10K shows an example of such a
process, which may begin by a processor of a networked machine
causing the generation and presentation of a deal offers. Example
display 1054 of FIG. 10I is an example presentation of available
deal offers, such as deal offer 1056, which may be displayed after
being served to a networked consumer device (e.g., via a web
browser, dedicated application and/or via email, among other
things). Other displays discussed herein may be presented to a
consumer device and/or merchant device in a similar manner (e.g.,
pushed and/or pulled via email, dedicated application, and/or a web
browser) and/or in any other suitable manner. Although the example
presentation of available deal offers are shown in FIG. 10I as
being selectable mosaics with pictures and text information, any
suitable approach for conveying a deal offer may be provided at
1078.
[0083] At 1080, an indication may be received by the promotional
system that a consumer has selected a deal offer from those
displayed on the consumer device. For example, the promotional
system may receive an associated indication of a deal offer
selected for purchase and/or for viewing more detailed
information.
[0084] At 1082, a determination can be made as to whether or not
the selected deal offer is associated with a merchant that is
involved with a scheduling system in accordance with some
embodiments discussed herein. For example, some and/or all deal
offers may be associated with a merchant that has used the screens
discussed herein to upload and/or otherwise manage their schedules
using the scheduling system discussed herein.
[0085] In response to determining at 1082 that the selected deal
offer is unassociated with the scheduling functionality discussed
herein (e.g., the merchant and/or deal offer is not included in the
scheduling system), the consumer can still be enabled to purchase
and/or redeem the selected deal offer without scheduling an
appointment for any potentially related services at 1084.
[0086] In response to determining at 1082 that the selected deal
offer is associated with the scheduling functionality, the
promotional system can cause a consumer device to display deal
offer details and/or scheduling option information. For example,
FIG. 10J shows a display, namely display 1058, that may be
presented subsequent to a purchase selection of a deal offer
associated with scheduling functionality. Display 1058 may include
a scheduling option, such as scheduling option 1059, that a
consumer may select to indicate they wish to schedule a service or
appointment and apply the selected deal offer thereto.
[0087] At 1088, a determination can be made whether the consumer
has purchased or is to purchase the selected deal offer. If not,
the available deal offers can be presented again at 1078. If so,
merchant availability information associated with the merchant can
be accessed and scheduling information can be presented at 1090.
For example, a determination can be made of a selection of the
scheduling option 1059 and, in response, a consumer may be directed
to a display, such as display 1000, allowing the consumer to
schedule the service associated with the selected and/or recently
purchased deal offer. According to some embodiments, some or all of
the information, such as the information collected with regard to
displays 1000, 1010, 1020, 1030, 1040, and/or 1050, may be
prefilled based on earlier interactions during the session. For
example, information entered by the merchant and/or otherwise
indicative of when the merchant is available and/or unavailable for
the type of service associated with the selected deal offer may be
presented to the consumer at 1090. Also, the promotional system can
be configured to receive at 1090 a scheduling request comprising
scheduling details (e.g., the user selection of a particular time
that was identified as being currently available for one or more
services by the merchant).
[0088] At 1092, the promotional system and/or the merchant
device(s) can facilitate the scheduling an appointment based on the
scheduling request. In doing so, the merchant availability
information can be updated based on the scheduling details.
[0089] At 1094, The deal identifier associated with the selected
deal offer, which may have been purchased or is about to be
purchased, can be associated with the scheduled appointment by the
merchant device, the promotional device and/or the consumer device.
The discount associated with the selected deal offer may be applied
to the cost of the services associated with the scheduled
appointment after, during and/or before the appointment takes place
and/or the services are provided. For example, a deal identifier,
such as a code (e.g., numeric, alpha-numeric, barcode, QR code,
etc.) can be received that is associated with the selected deal
offer, wherein the deal identifier is associated with a discount
for the services to be performed in connection with the
appointment.
[0090] At 1096, consumer information may be updated in the
scheduling system's client list, by adding a new client, or
updating information for an existing client, as provided during the
appointment scheduling request. The consumer and/or merchant may be
notified of the appointment by email, secure message, according to
account settings, as shown at 1098, such as the example
notification 1053 of FIG. 10G. The notification may include any
appointment information, such as the name of the merchant,
appointment date and time, location address, and/or staff member
scheduled to provide the service, among other things. The
notification may also include a link to view the appointment within
the scheduling system.
[0091] In this regard, the consumer may select to schedule a
service during the same online session that a deal offer for the
service is purchased. As sometimes referred to herein, "session"
includes a series of transactions that can be performed
sequentially by selecting links within various webpages during a
single, unbroken string of interactions. For example, a session may
end when the user stops selecting links within a webpage and
instead enters a new web address manually or searches for a new web
address using a search engine.
[0092] FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing an example promotional
method. For example, at 1100, a promotional system may monitor
and/or analyze the sales of deals for one or more particular
merchants and the details associated therewith (such as, for
example, deal offer cost, deal offer discount amount, quantity
sold, etc.). For example, the promotional system may track the
quantities of deal offer sold, and the types of services the deals
are for.
[0093] At 1110, the promotional system may monitor and/or analyze
scheduling data by, for example, utilizing information collected
from displays presented to merchants and/or consumers, such as
those discussed above. For example, the promotional system can be
configured to identify patterns in availability over a period of
time, determine when consumers are not likely to schedule an
appointment, and/or determine when the merchant has available
appointments. The promotional system may be additionally or
alternatively configured to determine a correlation between a type
of appointment and a time of day and/or week the appointment type
is likely or unlikely to be scheduled.
[0094] At 1120, the promotional system may generate analytics data
that may be based on, for example, any combination of sales and
scheduling data. Analytics data generation may include correlating
sales and scheduling data. For example, the analytics data may
comprise statistics pertaining to a deal offer's effect on a
merchant's schedule. In some embodiments, the analytics data may
indicate what number and/or percentage of appointments were booked
using a deal offer and/or whether or not a deal offer is likely to
increase the scheduling of appointments for times and/or products
that have been (relatively) underutilized. As such, the analytics
data may comprise historic trending data based on past deal offers
and scheduling data associated with a deal, such as an indication
that a deal offer has caused an increase in scheduling of
appointments.
[0095] The analytics data may be conveyed to a merchant at 1130.
Such information may be illustrated by way of a deal system and/or
scheduling system. For example, display 600 may be updated to
reflect which appointments on the merchant schedule were booked
using a deal by displaying, for example, such appointments in a
different color or font. Analytics data may also be displayed in a
more direct fashion, such as a banner or advertisement on any of
the displays of FIGS. 1A-9A provided to merchants, which suggest to
the merchant a deal offer that could be provided to consumers to
fill empty appointment timeslots. Additionally or alternatively,
one or more emails may be generated by the promotional system and
sent to one or more merchants, wherein the email(s) illustrate some
or all of the analytics data on some regularly defined interval, or
for example, following a deal offer.
[0096] At 1140, a promotional system may utilize the analytics data
in order to generate additional deal offers to be provided by a
deal system. In some embodiments, 1140 may only be executed in
response to the merchant authorizing such functionality either ad
hoc (e.g., in response to an advertisement for a particular deal
offer and/or in response to the merchant indicating a desire to
enable any recommended promotional campaign recommended by the
promotional system). Any combination of data may be used to
generate a new deal offer to fill a need based on the merchant's
schedule and/or other available information, for example, any
information collected and/or analyzed in regards to 1100-1130. A
deal offer may be generated and/or proposed to a merchant based on
scheduling patterns, and when consumers are more or less likely to
schedule an appointment, and/or a time of day/week when a
particular appointment type is identified as likely or unlikely to
be scheduled. For example, a promotional system may recognize one
or more time periods during which consumers are more likely to
schedule an appointment, and propose a high-demand deal offer to a
merchant. Similarly, a promotional system may identify time periods
during which consumers are less likely to schedule an appointment,
and propose a low-demand deal offer to a merchant. The high-demand
deal offers may have a smaller discount than that of a standard
deal offer (e.g., the deal offer unassociated with or unrestricted
to a specific timeframe). The low-demand deal offer may have a
greater discount than a standard deal offer. As such, consumers
seeking deeper discounts may be inclined to schedule appointments
at off-peak hours (as determined automatically by embodiments
discussed herein), therefore providing more efficient financial
incentives to more evenly fill a merchant's schedule (e.g., time)
and/or utilize other available resources. Any time-restricted deal
offer such as a high-demand deal offer and/or low-demand deal offer
may be presented to a consumer while scheduling an appointment
using a deal, or browsing deal offers for purchase. For example,
the consumer may see different values associated with different
deal offers for various times on a calendar. As such, a merchant
may use the scheduling system (such as that discussed above) to
configure timeframes for which certain deals are valid or invalid,
the scheduling availability may automatically reflect those
restrictions, and a consumer may be restricted to scheduling
appointments during a specific timeframe while using a
time-restricted deal.
[0097] In addition to, or as an alternative to generating
time-restricted deal offers, offers may be targeted to past clients
of the merchant and/or other consumers to encourage, for example,
trial of a different service than what those consumers may have
previously scheduled, rescheduling those that have been performed
within a given period of time (e.g., provide an offer for a
discount if a follow-up appointment is booked within a day of the
last appointment and/or the follow-up is scheduled to take place
within two months of the first appointment), etc. As other
examples, offers may include a discounted service to consumers who
often schedule another type of related service, and/or for bookings
have lapsed for a specific amount of time.
[0098] Regardless of the promotional technique used to generate an
offer, at 1150, a merchant may decide whether or not it will offer
the deal to a client or clients. If the merchant decides not to
market the deal offer that was generated, the process returns to
1100. In response to determine the merchant has decided to market
the deal offer to consumers, the deal may be offered to consumers
at 1160 by use of a marketing system, for example.
[0099] At 1170, the consumer may choose to schedule an appointment
in response to being provided the deal offer. A consumer who
chooses to purchase the deal and/or otherwise schedule an
appointment may be presented with a display such as those shown in
FIGS. 10A-10F for scheduling an appointment.
[0100] Thereafter, the promotional system may return to monitoring
sales and scheduling data and generate offers to improve a
merchant's business and provide consumers reduced prices on
products the consumers are interested in purchasing.
[0101] FIG. 12 shows system 1200, including an example network
architecture for a retailing system, which may include one or more
devices and sub-systems that are configured to implement some
embodiments discussed herein. For example, system 1200 may include
promotional system 1210, which may include, for example, deal
database 1212 and deal server 1214, (sometimes collectively
referred to herein as deal system 1216), scheduling database 1218
and scheduling server 1220 (sometimes collectively referred to
herein as scheduling system 1222), and promotional database 1224
and promotional server 1226 (sometimes collectively referred to
herein as marketing system 1228), among other things (not
shown).
[0102] Deal server 1214, scheduling server 1220, and/or promotional
server 1226 may each be any suitable network server and/or other
type of processing device, and may be implemented on a single
server or distributed, in any combination, among several
servers.
[0103] Deal database 1212, scheduling database 1218, and/or
promotional database 1224 may be any suitable network database
configured to store respective information and/or analytics data,
such as information discussed herein that may be received from the
displays discussed above and/or generated therefrom. Each of deal
database 1212, scheduling database 1218, and/or promotional
database 1224 may be implemented as a single database or
distributed among several databases. As such, a promotional system
1210 may be implemented using a variety of architectures, where
deal system 1216, scheduling system 1222, and marketing system 1228
may be implemented independently, as a single device, or according
to any desired architecture.
[0104] Promotional system 1210 can be coupled to one or more
consumer devices 1240A-1240N and/or one or more merchant devices
1250A-1250M via network 1202. In this regard, network 1202 may
include any wired or wireless communication network including, for
example, a wired or wireless local area network (LAN), personal
area network (PAN), metropolitan area network (MAN), wide area
network (WAN), or the like, as well as any hardware, software
and/or firmware required to implement it (such as, e.g., network
routers, etc.). For example, network 1202 may include a cellular
telephone, an 802.11, 802.16, 802.20, and/or WiMax network.
Further, network 1202 may include a public network, such as the
Internet, a private network, such as an intranet, or combinations
thereof, and may utilize a variety of networking protocols now
available or later developed including, but not limited to TCP/IP
based networking protocols.
[0105] Consumer devices 1240A-1240N and/or merchant devices
1250A-1250M may each be implemented as a personal computer and/or
other networked device, such as a cellular phone, tablet computer,
mobile device, etc., that may be used for any suitable purpose in
addition to configuring any component of a promotional system
and/or using a promotional system to schedule appointments, redeem
deals, and/or the like. The depiction in FIG. 12 of "N" consumer
devices and "M" merchant devices is merely for illustration
purposes. System 1200 may also include at least one search engine
system 1230 and/or third party server 1260, among other things, to
enable other functionality that may be used to provide and/or
enhance the services discussed herein.
[0106] FIG. 13 shows a schematic block diagram of circuitry 1300,
some or all of which may be included in, for example, promotional
system 1210, consumer devices 1240A-1240N and/or merchant devices
1250A-1250M. As illustrated in FIG. 13, in accordance with some
example embodiments, circuitry 1300 may include various means, such
as processor 1310, memory 1314, input/output module 1316, and/or
communications module 1318. The means of circuitry 1300 as
described herein may be embodied as, for example, circuitry,
hardware elements (e.g., a suitably programmed processor,
combinational logic circuit, and/or the like), a computer program
product comprising computer-readable program instructions stored on
a non-transitory computer-readable medium (e.g., memory 1314) that
is executable by a suitably configured processing device (e.g.,
processor 1310), or some combination thereof, to provide the
functionality discussed herein, including presenting the displays
discussed above, receiving information, and communicating with
remote devices.
[0107] Processor 1310 may, for example, be embodied as various
means including one or more microprocessors with accompanying
digital signal processor(s), one or more processor(s) without an
accompanying digital signal processor, one or more coprocessors,
one or more multi-core processors, one or more controllers,
processing circuitry, one or more computers, various other
processing elements including integrated circuits such as, for
example, an ASIC (application specific integrated circuit) or FPGA
(field programmable gate array), or some combination thereof.
Accordingly, although illustrated in FIG. 13 as a single processor,
in some embodiments, processor 1310 comprises a plurality of
processors. The plurality of processors may be embodied on a single
computing device or may be distributed across a plurality of
computing devices collectively configured to function as circuitry
1300. The plurality of processors may be in operative communication
with each other and may be collectively configured to perform one
or more functionalities of circuitry 1300 as described herein. In
some example embodiments, processor 1310 may configured to execute
instructions stored in memory 1314 or otherwise accessible to
processor 1310. These instructions, when executed by processor
1310, may cause circuitry 1300 to perform one or more of the
functionalities of circuitry 1300 as described herein.
[0108] Whether configured by hardware, firmware/software methods,
or by a combination thereof, processor 1310 may comprise an entity
capable of performing operations according to embodiments of the
present invention while configured accordingly. Thus, for example,
when processor 1310 is embodied as an ASIC, FPGA or the like,
processor 1310 may comprise specifically configured hardware for
conducting one or more operations described herein. Alternatively,
as another example, when processor 1310 is embodied as an executor
of instructions, such as may be stored in memory 1314, the
instructions may specifically configure processor 1310 to perform
one or more algorithms and operations described herein.
[0109] Memory 1314 may comprise, for example, volatile memory,
non-volatile memory, or some combination thereof. Although
illustrated as a single memory, memory 1314 may comprise a
plurality of memory components. The plurality of memory components
may be embodied on a single computing device or distributed across
a plurality of computing devices. In various embodiments, memory
1314 may comprise, for example, a hard disk, random access memory,
cache memory, flash memory, a compact disc read only memory
(CD-ROM), digital versatile disc read only memory (DVD-ROM), an
optical disc, circuitry configured to store information, or some
combination thereof. Memory 1314 may be configured to store
information, data (including deal parameter data and/or analytics
data), applications, instructions, or the like for enabling
circuitry 1300 to carry out various functions in accordance with
example embodiments of the present invention. For example, in at
least some embodiments, memory 1310 is configured to buffer input
data for processing by processor 1310. Additionally or
alternatively, in at least some embodiments, memory 1314 is
configured to store program instructions for execution by processor
1310. Memory 1314 may store information in the form of static
and/or dynamic information. This stored information may be stored
and/or used by circuitry 1300 during the course of performing its
functionalities.
[0110] Input/output module 1316 may be in communication with
processor 1310 to receive an indication of a user input and/or to
provide an audible, visual, mechanical, or other output to a user
(e.g., merchant and/or consumer). Some example visual outputs that
may be provided to a user by circuitry 1300 are discussed in
connection with the displays described herein. As such,
input/output module 1316 may include support, for example, for a
keyboard, a mouse, a joystick, a display, a touch screen display, a
microphone, a speaker, a RFID reader, barcode reader, biometric
scanner, and/or other input/output mechanisms. In embodiments
wherein circuitry 900 is embodied as a server or database, aspects
of input/output module 1316 may be reduced as compared to
embodiments where circuitry 1300 is implemented as an end-user
machine (e.g., consumer device and/or merchant device) or other
type of device designed for complex user interactions. In some
embodiments (like other components discussed herein), input/output
module 1316 may even be eliminated from circuitry 1300.
Alternatively, such as in embodiments wherein circuitry 1300 is
embodied as a server or database, at least some aspects of
input/output module 1316 may be embodied on an apparatus used by a
user that is in communication with circuitry 1300. Input/output
module 1316 may be in communication with the memory 1314,
communications module 1318, and/or any other component(s), such as
via a bus. Although more than one input/output module and/or other
component can be included in circuitry 1300, only one is shown in
FIG. 13 to avoid overcomplicating the drawing (like the other
components discussed herein).
[0111] Communications module 1318 may be embodied as any device or
means embodied in circuitry, hardware, a computer program product
comprising computer readable program instructions stored on a
computer readable medium (e.g., memory 1314) and executed by a
processing device (e.g., processor 1310), or a combination thereof
that is configured to receive and/or transmit data from/to another
device, such as, for example, a second circuitry 1300 and/or the
like. In some embodiments, communications module 1318 (like other
components discussed herein) can be at least partially embodied as
or otherwise controlled by processor 1310. In this regard,
communications module 1318 may be in communication with processor
1310, such as via a bus. Communications module 1318 may include,
for example, an antenna, a transmitter, a receiver, a transceiver,
network interface card and/or supporting hardware and/or
firmware/software for enabling communications with another
computing device.
[0112] Communications module 1318 may be configured to receive
and/or transmit any data that may be stored by memory 1314 using
any protocol that may be used for communications between computing
devices. Communications module 1318 may additionally or
alternatively be in communication with the memory 1314,
input/output module 1316 and/or any other component of circuitry
1300, such as via a bus.
[0113] In some embodiments, where FIG. 13 represents a promotional
system, some or all of the functionality described herein may be
performed by processor 1310. In this regard, the example processes
and algorithms discussed herein can be performed by at least one
processor 1310. For example, non-transitory computer readable media
can be configured to store firmware, one or more application
programs, and/or other software, which include instructions and
other computer-readable program code portions that can be executed
to control each processor (e.g., processor 1310) of the components
of system 1200 to implement various operations, including the
examples shown above. As such, a series of computer-readable
program code portions are embodied in one or more computer program
products and can be used, with a computing device, server, and/or
other programmable apparatus, to produce machine-implemented
processes.
[0114] As will be appreciated, any such computer program
instructions and/or other type of code may be loaded onto a
computer, processor or other programmable apparatus' circuitry to
produce a machine, such that the computer, processor other
programmable circuitry that execute the code on the machine create
the means for implementing various functions, including those
described herein.
[0115] It is also noted that all or some of the information
presented by the example displays discussed herein can be based on
data that is received, generated and/or maintained by one or more
components of system 1200. In some embodiments, one or more
external systems (such as a remote cloud computing and/or data
storage system) may also be leveraged to provide at least some of
the functionality discussed herein.
[0116] As described above and as will be appreciated based on this
disclosure, embodiments of the present invention may be configured
as methods, mobile devices, backend network devices, and the like.
Accordingly, embodiments may comprise various means including
entirely of hardware or any combination of software and hardware.
Furthermore, embodiments may take the form of a computer program
product on at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage
medium having computer-readable program instructions (e.g.,
computer software) embodied in the storage medium. Any suitable
computer-readable storage medium may be utilized including
non-transitory hard disks, CD-ROMs, flash memory, optical storage
devices, or magnetic storage devices.
[0117] Embodiments of the present invention have been described
above with reference to block diagrams and flowchart illustrations
of methods, apparatuses, systems and computer program products. It
will be understood that each block of the circuit diagrams and
process flowcharts, and combinations of blocks in the circuit
diagrams and process flowcharts, respectively, can be implemented
by various means including computer program instructions. These
computer program instructions may be loaded onto a general purpose
computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data
processing apparatus, such as processor 1310 to produce a machine,
such that the computer program product includes the instructions
which execute on the computer or other programmable data processing
apparatus create a means for implementing the functions specified
in the flowchart block or blocks.
[0118] These computer program instructions may also be stored in a
computer-readable storage device (e.g., memory 1314) that can
direct a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus
to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions
stored in the computer-readable storage device produce an article
of manufacture including computer-readable instructions for
implementing the function discussed herein. The computer program
instructions may also be loaded onto a computer or other
programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series of
operational steps to be performed on the computer or other
programmable apparatus to produce a computer-implemented process
such that the instructions that execute on the computer or other
programmable apparatus provide steps for implementing the functions
discussed herein.
[0119] Accordingly, blocks of the block diagrams and flowchart
illustrations support combinations of means for performing the
specified functions, combinations of steps for performing the
specified functions and program instruction means for performing
the specified functions. It will also be understood that each block
of the circuit diagrams and process flowcharts, and combinations of
blocks in the circuit diagrams and process flowcharts, can be
implemented by special purpose hardware-based computer systems that
perform the specified functions or steps, or combinations of
special purpose hardware and computer instructions.
[0120] Many modifications and other embodiments of the inventions
set forth herein will come to mind to one skilled in the art to
which these embodiments of the invention pertain having the benefit
of the teachings presented in the foregoing descriptions and the
associated drawings. Therefore, it is to be understood that the
embodiments of the invention are not to be limited to the specific
embodiments disclosed and that modifications and other embodiments
are intended to be included within the scope of the appended
claims. Although specific terms are employed herein, they are used
in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes of
limitation.
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